Here is an inspiring article by Robert Morrisette on having the courage of your convictions.  I love the opening definition of courage – not the absence of fear, but the perception that there is something far more important at stake.  Wow!  I could not have said it better myself if I took the next year.  Courage is not the strength inside of you as much as the strength of your convictions.  Courage is really a matter of what you are focusing on.  Study any person of courage that you know.  You will find that what drives them is a conviction that is worth paying any cost for.  Without this conviction you will not pay the price.  Cowards have no convictions worth dying for and that is why they never truly live.  If you are focused on God’s Glory then you can endure many setbacks, failures and heartaches because you know there is something far more important at stake.  If you are focused on what is happening to you then you will shrink back from God’s Glory to self comfort.  Have there been moments in your life where you had to decide on doing what is right vs. doing what is comfortable?  Lives are defined by those special moments when we must choose between comforts and convictions.  I pray you choose wisely.   Here is the full article.  Ponder on these points as we celebrate another Lord’s day.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

I have heard it said that courage is not the absence of fear, but the perception that there is something far more important at stake. Having such a “something” gives us the ability to resist giving in to fear and to eventually rise above it. It is only in the presence of fear that true courage can be exercised, but without this “something”, how can we see beyond those things we’re afraid of?

Before I go further, let me say that I am not talking about appropriate fears, such as of immediate danger. Rather, I am speaking of the times when we are consumed by what we are afraid will happen, thus denying that God is in charge and that He is good. These are beliefs supported by lies that encourage us to focus on our present circumstances and past experiences. So often at these times it is hard to see what good is to come, because the uncomfortable feelings make us want to run and hide. Fear wants us to believe lies about our value, potential, abilities, influence and place in God’s heart. It wants us to fix our attention on the negative things that others may have said or done to us. Fear wants us to get our eyes on anything but the Father. When we give in, fear once again defeats us, seeming to reinforce the “truth” of the lies we have believed. It is very debilitating. Yet, if we can get to the place of conquering it, on the other side of fear is great reward.

When I was teaching my son to ride his bike without training wheels, he was very fearful of falling over and getting hurt. As I helped him practice, there were moments when he did fall over and, yes, he did want to quit. In the midst of this process, I kept encouraging him to try again. I held for him what he was not able to see, that he had it in him to do it even though he did not realize it yet, and that there was a great reward waiting once he learned to master balancing his bike.

Then it happened. He rode his bike without my help. As his confidence grew, he began mastering turning, then riding on dirt, going down a hill, riding with one hand-all of it. The amazing thing was his own words, “You were right, Daddy. This is fun!” His fear was overcome by accomplishment, replaced with the joy of riding a bike and an attitude that said, “What can we do next?”

Many people develop a practiced response to circumstances where fear is involved: they avoid them. They let fear rule them instead of caution them, thus allowing it to rob them of the good things in store. My son had fear because he was going beyond what he was used to doing. It made him aware that he might get hurt and should therefore take things slowly, but he did not allow it to keep him from trying.

The enemy knows who we really are, what potential we have, and the Father’s love for us. He also knows that we are not aware of many of these things ourselves. If he cannot keep us from being saved, he definitely does not want us to take hold of these truths. He knows that one of the greatest threats to his kingdom is more and more of God’s people realizing how the Father sees them. It is what we have not come to fully believe that is a threat to him. If we choose to believe God, refusing to allow the enemy’s lies to sow the seeds of fear in us, he knows that we will become a growing threat to his kingdom as God works through us.

So why doesn’t God just vanquish fear when we cry out to Him? Why do we, His people, even have to experience fear at all?

I will offer two reasons, although there are probably more. The first is that the Father wants to heal those places in us and times in our past when we did submit to fear. He does not want to condemn us. Rather, He wants us to renounce the decisions and judgments we made long ago and receive His forgiveness so these past choices and old beliefs no longer interfere with the present. In order to deal with these areas, He will allow present circumstances in our lives that are similar to those in our past. Often we will be able to recognize that this is happening when we experience more fear than the present circumstances warrant, and find ourselves wanting to flee or respond inappropriately. In such times we need to ask God, “What circumstances in my past made me feel this way and caused me to respond the way I’m wanting to respond right now?” As He shows us, we are to pray through these instances, forgiving those who have hurt us, and asking God’s for the lies we believed. If we avoid the opportunity to trace our fears, we miss the opportunity to conquer them. But the Lord is faithful, and He loves us. He will bring another circumstance into our lives at a later time.

The second reason is that the Father wants us to know and experience the truth that fear does not have mastery over us-we only believed it did. He does not allow things in our lives in order to makes us feel bad about ourselves or so we can fail. Instead, as the loving Father that He is, He holds for us what we are unable to see for ourselves at this time. He knows we have yet to see our potential. He knows that He has something great waiting for us on the other side. As we chose to cooperate with Him, believing that He is good, trusting Him, then we will come to see and experience it too.

The Lord is completely committed to you. You are loved. Often the very thing you have been asking for resides on the other side of the fear He would have you conquer. Keep in mind that you have authority over an area to whatever degree you have conquered it. Take courage, knowing that the “something” that is bigger than your fear is the Father’s love for you, His goodness and faithfulness to bring you into the good things that await you. Resist fear, realizing that the Father believes in you and holds for you what you have yet to see-your potential to succeed. Press through, knowing that you will enter into a deeper knowledge of the love He has for you (Romans 5:2-5).

Robert Morrissette is the Director of Prayer Counseling and Internship Coordinator at Elijah House. The purpose of Elijah House is to share the love of Jesus to restore broken relationships and bring healing to hurt and wounded hearts, lives and relationships; to call God’s people to “restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” and to “restore all things.”

Here is an excellent article by Brent Filson on leadership feedback.  I believe it is of the utmost importance that you listen to the feedback from those that you lead.  Without feedback, you run the risk of leading people into irrelevancy.  I may not like the feedback, but I don’t like irrelevancy at all.  It is important for the leaders to get the truth from the troops so they can make accurate decisions based upon the facts.  So many leaders cocoon themselves around yes men and straighten deck chairs while the titanic sinks.  What type of leader are you?  Do you act like you have all the answers or are you humble enough to seek feedback.  The leaders of today must know that no one person can have all the answers and only a team will win big!  I am so excited about the meetings at my house the last couple of days.  We had an incredible discussion on the future of leadership support to build a 21st century community that will make a difference.  I believe we are on the verge of something revolutionary and can’t wait to share later this week!  Enjoy the article, seek feedback and get ready to grow.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Life on our planet flourishes through feedback. If life forms don’t develop feedback loops and get good information about how well they are interacting with their world, the world eventually kills them.

This holds true with leaders. Leaders must get feedback as to how they’re doing — otherwise they won’t be leaders for long.

One kind of feedback is results. After all, leaders do nothing more important than get results. You should understand the kinds of results you’re getting, if they are the right results, and if you are getting them in the right ways.

There is another kind of measurement that is as important, and sometimes more important, than results. It’s a measurement most leaders overlook. That measurement has to do not with you but with the people you’re leading.

To explain what that measurement is, I’ll first describe a fundamental concept of how one goes about leading people to achieve results.

There’s a crucial difference between doing a task and taking leadership of that task that makes a world of difference in the task’s accomplishment.

For instance, if one is a floor sweeper, doesn’t one best accomplish one’s task not simply by doing floor sweeping but by taking leadership of floor sweeping?

Such leadership might entail:
— taking the initiative to order and manage supplies,
— evaluating the job results and raising those results to ever higher levels,
— having floor sweeping be an integral part of the general cleaning policy,
— hiring, training, developing other floor sweepers,
— instilling a “floor sweeping esprit”that can be manifested in training, special uniforms and insignias , behavior, etc.
— setting floor sweeping strategy and goals.

Otherwise, in a “doing” mode, one simply pushes a broom.

You may say, “Listen, Brent, a job is a job is a job. This leadership thing is making too much of not much!”

Could be. But my point is that applying leadership to a task changes the expectations of the task. It even changes the task itself. Think of it, when we ourselves are challenged to lead and not simply do, our world is, I submit, changed.

Whenever you need to lead people to accomplish a task, challenge them not to do that task but to take leadership of that task.

This gets back to the key measurement of your leadership. Your leadership should best be measured not by your leadership but by the leadership of the people you lead.

Now, in becoming leaders, they can’t simply do what they want. They must come to an agreement with you as to what leadership actions they will take. You can veto any of their proposed actions. However, use the veto sparingly. Cultivate your confidence and their confidence in their leadership.

When you evaluate the effectiveness of your leadership by the feedback loop connected to their leadership, you are assessing your world as it should be, and great results will follow.

I read a fantastic article by Rick Beneteau on giving and listening.  It reminded me of the role of mentoring in helping someone think properly through their life.  Life can be tough and it certainly isn’t always a bed of roses.  If life is tough for everyone, why do some people seem to ride the waves from peak to peak, but others are buried by the waves?  I believe it is not what happens to you in life, but how you think about what happens to you in life that matters most.  Do you see your current challenges, roadblocks, and setbacks as evidence of no opportunity or do you see the same situations as evidence that God has a BIG plan for you!  Think about it for a minute!  If God is calling you for a big assignment—wouldn’t it make sense that He would place some major challenges in your life to develop character first?  God must develop the person for the assignment given and challenges are a great way to develop the necessary character for advanced assignments.  Instead of fighting our fate, let’s be drawn to our destiny! 

When Laurie and I sit down to mentor couples, we tell them to share with us the good, the bad, and the ugly.  We are not listening so we can have a pity party with the couple.  We listen to celebrate the good, make adjustments for the bad and address the ugly immediately.  Every great leader has had good, bad and ugly things happen to them, but the key is how they are thinking through the situations.  How are you thinking through the good, the bad, and the ugly in your life?  Do you secretly enjoy the bad and the ugly things that are happening?  Many people surprisingly do!  The reason for this secret enjoyment is they feel it justifies their lack of results and causes others to feel sorry for them.  DO NOT EVER PLAY THE ROLE OF VICTIM!  It may feel good to have others feel sorry for you, but it is a drug that creates a harmful life addiction.  YOU are a champion and all champions will have to overcome the bad and the ugly in their life.  We are not training people to be victims, so take the bad things that happen to you as God’s way of developing character.  The greatest gift a mentor can give to you is the absolute belief that you have what it takes inside of you to overcome your present difficulties and win in the game of life.  Laurie and I believe strongly that all of us have what it takes and we have dedicated our life to teach others how to think through their difficulties to be champions in the game of life!  We must give to others, but the best thing to give to others is a champion’s way of thinking through life.  Anything else that we give to them is giving less than our personal best!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

“Give ’til it hurts.” You’ve probably heard this a thousand times. I know I have. A well-intentioned expression that I always found somewhat strange as “giving” and “hurt” are concepts that seem to be polar opposite.

I want to share with you a personal story where “giving” in fact “hurt” a person I was trying to help. In order to do that, I need to give you a little background about myself. Please indulge me.

For whatever reason the universe has, I have been blessed to have had many people seek my counsel during my fifty years of living. They trusted that I could help them in some way.

I’ve been told that I am a good listener. Coupled with an inherent desire to help others, even during my high school days, I seemed to become the counselor of choice for many of my peers.

I vividly recall private chats I had with my high school cohorts, normally conducted in my sooped-up ’67 ‘Cuda, during lunch, spare periods or skipped-out classes. Problems about girlfriends, boyfriends, teachers and parents were the norm. Usually self- esteem issues were at the core, as is the case with most problems thirty years later.

And later, my twenty-and-thirty-something friends and family members, as well as many of the employees in my drycleaning business, could always count on complete confidence and my objectivity when discussing problems that they had in their personal lives.

As life moved along, I was faced with a myriad of not only challenges to overcome, but tragedies to deal with. The death of two of my siblings, my father and many close family members and friends, business losses, divorce and being the parent of a special needs child were among them. The lessons learned and the strength gained from these life experiences ultimately led to what I have chosen to do with my life today.

But being pretty well-schooled in life does not always mean that one has the right answers though.

He has been in my life a long time. I was mostly always on the listening end. Conversation after conversation he would laundry-list his assorted problems. And, as many “victims of life” have it, they were never in short supply. I would allow him to “share” his stories of suffering, time after time, consuming much of mine. Like the traditional psychologist, I would just listen, as I felt listening was a large part of “my role” in trying to help him.

Thing was, no matter what suggestions I would offer to try to help him, the problems not only remained, but amplified over time. He never acted on my advice and I eventually began to feel rather impotent and confused about how I could make a difference in his life.

Suddenly, in a conversation last year, at a point where I became very irritated at listening to his negativity, it struck me. This person was receiving so much more benefit from knowing I was listening to him spew about his miserable life than he ever would from finding solutions and improving it. It finally dawned on me that he LOVED having problems!

I hadn’t helped him. Not one bit. In fact, for years, I was simply feeding this need in him. I was helping him to have a great time at his own pity party. All this time my giving was, in fact, hurting him!

He was shocked when I interrupted him mid-sentence and blurted out that I didn’t want to listen to any more about his problems. There was an awkward silence but when he finally asked me “why” I quickly reassured him that I was still interested in helping him. But it was not going to be on his terms anymore. The new deal would have to be that from this conversation forward, we would not discuss the past. Only the present and future. We would address current issues by working on solutions. He would need to act on my suggestions. Things such as reading certain books or listening to certain tapes and making small adjustments in his thinking that would produce positive results. Our future conversations would consist only of discussing the changes he would sincerely attempt to make to improve his life. He seemed somewhat stunned, and reluctantly agreed.

Those next few times we talked though he tried very hard to steer the conversation down his familiar road attempting to inform me of the latest, greatest grief in his life. But I didn’t allow that, sticking to the agreed-upon plan and changing direction to our new proactive approach.

You know what? It really didn’t take too long before the tone of our conversations became more positive in nature and soon he was beginning to “get” some important concepts about how his mind, and the universe, really worked. He started reading and listening to materials I suggested. He was beginning to learn that his current results were the product of his current thinking and that he was never a victim of life – not for one minute! That growth has continued.

Now we have great talks, often upbeat, and any real problem he has is briefly outlined and then discussed in such a way that a solution can be found and acted upon. In fact, I’ve become comfortable sharing some of my problems with him! More than once he’s reminded me to take some of my own medicine!

It’s both magical and comforting to me at the same time to know that when the simple truths of how things work in this world are realized, things can really begin to change for the better and in a big way. It’s unfortunate that it took so long for me to realize how I could better serve my friend, but then, the universe has it’s own timing for things like this.

It is my hope that if you have been trying to help someone like my friend and find yourself doing a lot of “listening”, that just maybe, your giving is hurting.

I read an informative article this morning from Paul B. Thornton on the 7 Secrets of Leadership Success.  All the points are on the mark and every leader will improve by applying these principles to their life.  Leadership in one sense is simple, but in another sense is extremely hard.  What is the reason for this?  I have a one word answer: discipline.  Learning the principles are not enough—true results will only occur when the principles are applied consistently and this requires self-discipline!  Enjoy the article. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Fortune magazine once published an article entitled “The Best Advice I Ever Got.” It was a great article that offered wit and wisdom about achieving business success. I liked it so much, that it motivated me to produce my newest book, Leadership: Best Advice I Ever Got, which describes the best leadership advice 136 successful CEOs, coaches, consultants, professors, managers, executives, presidents, politicians, and religious leaders received that most helped them become effective and successful leaders.

Here are seven secrets to leadership success:

1. Leadership is about making things happen.

If you want to make something happen with your life – in school, in your profession or in your community, do it. Perceived obstacles crumble against persistent desire. John Baldoni, Author, Leadership Communication Consultant and Founder of Baldoni Consulting LLC, shared this advice that had come from his father, a physician. He taught him the value of persistence. At the same time, his mother taught him compassion for others. Therefore, persistence for your cause should not be gained at the expense of others. Another bit of leadership wisdom!

2. Listen and understand the issue, then lead.

Time and time again we have all been told, “God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason”… or as Stephen Covey said, “Seek to understand, rather than be understood.” As a leader, listening first to the issue, then trying to coach, has been the most valuable advice that Cordia Harrington, President and CEO of Tennessee Bun Company has been given.

3. Answer the three questions everyone within your organization wants answers to.

What the people of an organization want from their leader are answers to the following: Where are we going? How are we going to get there? What is my role? Kevin Nolan, President & Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Health Systems, Inc. believes the more clarity that can be added to each of the three questions, the better the result.

4. Master the goals that will allow you to work anywhere in today’s dynamic business world.

Debbe Kennedy, President, CEO and Founder of Global Dialogue Center and Leadership Solutions Companies, and author of Action Dialogues and Breakthrough once shared this piece of advice that was instrumental in shaping her direction, future and achievements.

She was a young manager at IBM just promoted to her first staff assignment in a regional marketing office. For reasons she can’t explain, one of her colleagues named Bookie called her into his office while she was visiting his location. He then began to offer unsolicited advice, but advice that now stays fresh in her mind. He mentioned that jobs, missions, titles and organizations would come and go as business is dynamic – meaning it is always changing. He advised her not to focus your goals toward any of these, but instead learn to master the skills that will allow you to work anywhere.

He was talking about four skills:

The ability to develop an idea;

Effectively plan for its implementation;

Execute second-to-none;

Achieve superior results time after time.

With this in mind, Kennedy advises readers to seek jobs and opportunities with this in mind. Forget what others do. Work to be known for delivering excellence. It speaks for itself and it opens doors.

5. Be curious.

Curiosity is a prerequisite to continuous improvement and even excellence. The person who gave Mary Jean Thornton, Former Executive Vice President & CIO, The Travelers, this advice urged her to study people, processes, and structures. He inspired her to be intellectually curious. He often reminded Thornton that making progress, in part, was based upon thinking. She has learned to apply this notion of intellectual curiosity by thinking about her organization’s future, understanding the present, and knowing and challenging herself to creatively move the people and the organization closer to its vision.

6. Listen to both sides of the argument.

The most valuable advice Brian P. Lees, Massachusetts State Senator and Senate Minority Leader, ever received came from his mentor, United States Senator Edward W. Brooke III. He told him to listen to all different kinds of people and ideas. Listening only to those who share your background and opinions can be imprudent. It is important to respect your neighbors’ rights to their own views. Listening to and talking with a variety of people, from professors to police officers, from senior citizens to school children, is essential not only to be a good leader in business, but to also be a valuable member within your community.

7. Prepare, prepare, prepare.

If you fail to prepare, you are preparing to fail. If one has truly prepared and something goes wrong the strength of the rest of what you’ve prepared for usually makes this something easier to handle without crisis and panic. One of the best pieces of advice Dave Hixson, Men’s Varsity Basketball Coach at Amherst College has ever received and continues to use and pass on is this anonymous quote -“Preparation is the science of winning.”

Along with this are two expressions from Rick Pitino’s book Success is a Choice, which speaks to preparation. Hixson asks his teams every year: “Do you deserve to win?” and “Have you done the work?” This speaks to the importance of preparation toward achieving your final goal. If you haven’t done the work (the preparation) the answer to the second question is an easy “no!”

Great advice comes from many sources – parents, other relatives, consultants, bosses, co-workers, mentors, teachers, coaches, and friends. The important point to remember is to stay open, listen to everyone, but also develop your own leadership style.

Here is an excellent article on a book that teaches the seven self-destructive habits of successful companies.  Many highly successful companies create bad habits through reading their press clippings.  Jagdish Sheth’s book is full of anecdotes and examples of formerly successful companies falling on hard times.  Habits are very important!  Create good habits and your good habits will produce excellence.  Create bad habits and your bad habits will produce failure.  It is only a matter of time.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Jagdish Sheth outlines the seven self-destructive habits of good companies

Why do good companies go bad? Honestly, I hadn’t thought too much about this question. Then a CEO friend of mine brought up the 62 “excellent” companies praised by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman in their early 1980s bestseller In Search of Excellence. A great many of them—including such stalwarts as Sears, Xerox, IBM, and Kodak—had faced serious hardships in the 20-odd years since. Some of them recovered. Some, as I write, are struggling mightily to recover. Some are dead or, in all likelihood, soon will be.

So why do good companies go bad? This heartfelt and insightful question launched me on a journey of discovery. I started by conducting archival research on companies that had failed during the past several decades, interviewed people from some of the failed companies, and eventually came to the conclusions presented here.

Although it is commonly believed that institutions are (at least potentially) immortal and humans are mortal, I found that the average life span of corporations is declining, even as that of humans is rising. Others have come to similar conclusions. In the best-known work in this area, The Living Company, Arie de Geus found that one-third of the companies listed in the 1970 Fortune 500 had vanished by 1983, either through acquisition, merger, or being broken up. De Geus quoted a Dutch survey showing that the average corporate life expectancy in Japan and Europe was 12.5 years. Another study found declining corporate life expectancy across the major European economies: from 45 to 18 years in Germany, from 13 to nine years in France, and from ten to four years in Great Britain.

Much of the decline in corporate life expectancy is the result of a heightened level of merger and acquisition activity in recent decades. However, most of this activity is due to distress selling rather than strategic buying because so many companies are in trouble.

Let me say at once that I have no intention of discounting the need to learn the underlying causes of success—the “good habits” of good companies. Nor will I second-guess de Geus or Peters and Waterman or others, like Jim Collins. For very good reasons, they singled out certain companies as models of success—companies that, for very different reasons, have since fallen on hard times. My purpose is not to reexamine why these companies were considered “excellent” or “visionary” in the first place. I am interested in what happened to them afterward—why they fell, why they failed, why they lost the magic touch. What happened?

In my view, when companies rise to excellence, they often unwittingly develop self-destructive habits that eventually undermine their success. As with people, these self-destructive habits are learned, not innate, and we can watch as companies adopt patterns of behavior that are self-destructive. Sometimes these habits get worse over time and become, in effect, addictions. But self-destructive habits can also be broken and overcome, and companies can be put back on the road to improved health.

Often the turnaround is precipitated by a crisis. Our self-destructive habits creep up on us, if you will. We overeat, fail to exercise, maybe even smoke, but we think we’re still doing okay—until we have that minor heart attack, that potent reminder of mortality. Suddenly our self-destructive habits are gone, and we’re eating salads and walking five miles a day. In the case of corporations, the crisis might take the form of an emerging competitor, a sudden erosion of market share, or a technological advance that threatens to leave the company behind. Such developments can spell doom, or they can serve to shake companies out of their destructive behavior patterns.

We’ll see plenty of examples of companies that are actively working to curb their self-destructive habits, to change their behavior, as well as companies that have already done so and are “in recovery.” Our message is positive: if you’re willing to examine yourself honestly enough to discover your weaknesses, you can ultimately transform yourself.

So what are these self-destructive habits? We’ll enumerate them one by one in the following chapters (and they’re summarized in Figure 1-1). But first, let’s see them in action by examining three companies in the technology sector.

Digital

It’s one of the great success stories in the annals of American business. In 1957 Kenneth Olsen, a 31-year-old engineer at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, asked for $70,000 from American Research & Development to start a new firm he wanted to call Digital Computer Corp. He got the money, but the venture capitalists made him change the name. They pointed out that too many big companies, like RCA and General Electric, were losing money in the computer business.

So Digital Equipment Corp. set up shop in an old wool mill in Maynard, Massachusetts, and Ken Olsen set about to pursue his dream: to revolutionize the computer industry with the introduction of the “minicomputer”—a smaller, simpler, more useful, and far cheaper device than the bulky mainframes that were the industry standard.

In its first year, Digital had sales of $94,000. Five years later that number reached $6.5 million. In 1977, the company hit the $1 billion mark. Digital found itself leading an industry boom rippling from the Boston area that created so many high-paying jobs it came to be called the Massachusetts Miracle. At the same time, the reputation of its founder grew. He was brilliant and eccentric. He protected his innovative engineers. He instituted a no-layoff policy. Digital was known as “a fun place to work.”

No wonder that when Tom Peters and Bob Waterman went “in search of excellence” for what became their 1982 bestseller, Digital not only made the list of excellent companies but was also considered one of the 15 “exemplars” that basically did everything right. It was one of the companies that represented “especially well both sound performance and the eight traits [of excellence]” the authors identified. Such high accolades appeared to be borne out when Fortune magazine, in 1986, declared Olsen “arguably the most successful entrepreneur in the history of American business.”

Let’s jump ahead to the end of that decade. In January 1989, Digital announced it would introduce a range of personal computers, along with their more powerful cousins, workstations. The question was, had Olsen already waited too long? One thing was certain: the stock was trading at $98, down from $199 just a year and a half earlier. Another certainty was that the minicomputer, the radical innovation on which Olsen had staked his company, was rapidly becoming a high-tech dinosaur. Today it’s clear that the writing was on the wall. But Olsen had erased it and scrawled his own message: “The personal computer will fall flat on its face in business.” Now his company appeared to be acknowledging its failure to see the future.

Despite the eleventh-hour about-face, the hemorrhaging at Digital continued through 1991. Top executives were fleeing, and the company that abhorred layoffs was in the process of cutting 10,000 employees from the payroll. By then, Olsen had been in charge for 34 years and still entertained no thoughts of retirement. Instead, he used the annual shareholders’ meeting that year to introduce the company’s next-generation “Alpha” computer chip, which Olsen claimed was four times faster than the top-of-the-line chip from Intel. But the shareholders probably weren’t heartened because the stock was now trading at $59 a share.

In the spring of 1992, the company flabbergasted Wall Street with the news that it had lost $294 million in the quarter that had just ended, only the second time in its history that Digital had reported a loss. Olsen responded with a massive restructuring of top-level management. It didn’t help. By the end of April, the stock had fallen to $46, its lowest price since 1985, and takeover rumors were circulating.

That same spring, the Wall Street Journal seemed to be working on its first draft of Olsen’s obituary. The Journal noted that a secret meeting between Olsen and Apple’s John Sculley—a meeting that might have produced an alliance with much potential for Digital—had come to nothing. Instead, Apple had shocked the industry by inking a broad technology-sharing agreement with archenemy IBM.

The Journal described this as another opportunity apparently lost to Digital and Olsen. His persistent doubts about the PC—”he used to call it a ‘toy'”—had crippled the nation’s second-largest computer maker when the market turned to PCs. The Journal also noted that Olsen’s resistance to another major trend of the last decade—so-called “open” systems that use standard operating software—had similarly impeded the company’s performance.

Digital was now faced with the danger of being left behind by the industry it was instrumental in creating. As it struggled with huge losses on declining sales, repeated restructurings, and the exodus of key executives who questioned Olsen’s decisions, the company watched its value plummet, with shares trading at one-fourth of their 1987 high.

At the same time, Olsen’s autocratic style was drawing widespread criticism. John Rose, who a month earlier had resigned as manager of Digital’s PC unit, told the Journal that the company “has everything it needs to turn around—good people, good products and great service—but it won’t happen while he’s still in charge.” And one of Digital’s former computer designers described Olsen as the Fidel Castro of the computer industry, adding that he’s “out of touch, and anyone who disagrees with him is sent into exile.”

One who had fallen into disfavor amid the recent turmoil was Digital’s chief engineer William Strecker, who had opposed a mainframe project that Olsen backed, despite the fact that it was proving a costly failure. The disbanding of Strecker’s group was viewed as an especially strong signal of disarray in the executive suite. A former Digital manager told the Journal that it was a “criminal shame,” because Strecker was the only member of the inner circle who could develop a coherent product strategy.

The Journal suggested that Olsen’s support of the ill-fated VAX 9000 mainframe, which cost $1 billion to bring to market but attracted few buyers, was partly responsible for Olsen’s failure to work out a deal with Apple. Roger Heinen, an Apple senior vice president who was privy to the meeting, blamed the stalemate on Olsen’s disinterest and lack of understanding of the importance of the personal computer industry. The Journal concluded that Olsen’s vision of the computer industry was lacking and that his choices were leaving the company at a disadvantage in a market that was rapidly transforming.

Just two months later, in July 1992, Digital announced that Olsen would retire as president and CEO, effective October 1. Olsen quickly followed with his own announcement that he would also vacate his seat on the board at that time, thus severing all formal ties to the company he had led since its inception. His resignation would also give a free hand to his successor, Robert Palmer, who faced the unenviable task of rescuing a company that had reported a loss of $2.79 billion in fiscal 1992.

Would the seven-year Digital veteran prove up to the challenge? He certainly seemed to be giving it his best shot. After six months on the job, Palmer had reorganized, slashed costs as well as jobs, recruited a new management team from outside, changed the color of the Digital logo, and, most radically, sold the old mill, the company’s first and only home base. Palmer also announced a fundamental change in philosophy: a 19 percent spending cut on product development and engineering. No longer would Digital put competing teams to work on the same or similar problems (a practice highly praised in In Search of Excellence). “We have to rationalize our spending, have less redundancy in hardware and software design,” Palmer told the business press.

Early results were promising. In July 1993, the company announced quarterly earnings of $113 million. The stock price was rising back into the mid-40s. Even more important in many analysts’ minds, wrote the Washington Post, was that “under Palmer the company is no longer in denial.”

Too little, too late. Ultimately, Palmer couldn’t stop the bleeding. In January 1998, the crippled giant was acquired by Compaq—ironically, the world’s largest maker of PCs—for $9.15 billion. The great Digital was dead.

All the postmortems agreed that, in the last analysis, the visionary’s vision had failed: the company blinked and missed the PC revolution; blinked again and missed the change to open, rather than proprietary, systems; and, in classic denial, continued through the early ’90s to pour money into developing a new mainframe.

As C. Gordon Bell, one of the chief engineers in Digital’s early days, told the Boston Globe, the company’s success bred its failure. “The VAX [minicomputer] took over the company, and what it allowed them to do was not think. No one had to think from 1981 until 1987 or ’88 because the VAX was so dominant.”

Jim Rohn is another success coach that is teaching the same message of developing leadership skills for the 21^st century.  Here is an informative article that will help inspire you to develop all of your abilities.  Success is success which is success and the principles from numerous different leaders all converge into several basic points.  Enjoy the article and develop your skills!  Remember, when opportunity and preparedness meet—success must happen.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

I find it’s important to not walk into the beginning part of this 21st Century without multiple skills.

But what I also find is that if you are already in sales, network marketing or have an entrepreneurial business (or plan to in the future), you can gain the needed skills for the future while you create your income now.

Here’s my short list for on the job training, so that you can learn while you earn.

1) SALES

I began my journey with sales, which of course dynamically changed my life back at age 25. The first year I multiplied my income by five. I was raised in farm country. I knew how to milk cows, but it didn’t pay well. But sales altered the course of my life, learning to present a valid product in the marketplace, talk about its virtues and get somebody to say “yes.” And then give them good service.

2) RECRUITING

Then came recruiting, how to expand my business, build an organization. We have all heard the question, is it better to have one person selling a $1000 or have 100 people selling $10? If you ask me, I’ll take the 100 at $10. Recruiting, the ability to multiply your efforts, once mastered, is one of life and leadership’s greatest time management resources.

3) ORGANIZING

Then I learned organizing. Keeping your own schedule can be difficult at times, but now you have to balance multiple tasks and people to get maximum results. But you will find that the payoff is massive once you have tapped into the synergy and momentum of group dynamics and teamwork.

4) PROMOTION

Next is promotion. First it’s the spring campaign and then the fall campaign, and then it’s this month’s objective’s campaign. You never know when it’s going to click for someone to want or need to buy from you or be a part of what you are doing, so having the offer or the special or the contest going when they’re ready can make all the difference.

5) RECOGNITION

Then it’s the recognition. Some people work harder for recognition than they do for money. It’s the chance to belong. Getting people to do something that ordinarily on their own, they wouldn’t think of doing. They could, but they don’t think of it. You come along with a little promotion for this month or this quarter and everything changes for them, and I found that paid big money.

6) COMMUNICATION

Then I learned communication. How to do the training, how to do the teaching, and probably the greatest gift of all is learning how to inspire with words. Inspire people to see themselves better than they are; all of those gifts, all of those skills. Being the voice that tells them they have made a wise decision and here’s why.

Now, I believe that as you walk into this century with just that little short list I’ve given you, you’ll be equipped. We’ve all watched what has happened the last 15 years. The guy had one skill – the company downsizes. His division is eliminated and since he only had one skill, now he is vulnerable. He’s wandering around saying, “Oh my, the last few years I should have taken some classes that would have taught me a couple of more things and I wouldn’t be here in this vulnerable position.”

So my admonition — learn some multiple skills, or should we say, back-up skills for the 21st Century and no better place to learn them than in what you’re already doing now.

To Your Success,

Jim Rohn

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Here is one of my all-time favorite business books from Michael Gerber called E-Myth.  I remember the first time I read this book and realized I was not thinking about business properly.  I focused on what I could get done.  I should have focused on creating a system to teach anyone how to get things done.  This paradigm shift began the creation of the Team training system and the results that followed.  Thank you Michael Gerber—you taught me to think through a business in a systematic fashion and this produced long-term results!  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Ever wonder why most small businesses– no matter how huge effort they put in their endeavor–still fail? Michael Gerber reveals the answers in this book. Accordingly, the future of small businesses revolves in only three philosophies: the e-myth (entrepreneurial myth), the turn-key revolution, and the business development process.

The E-myth

The e-myth, or the entrepreneurial myth, evolved from one very fatal assumption– that the success of every business is simply achieved by summing up the following: an entrepreneur’s desire to own a business plus the certain amount of capital he puts in plus the knowing the amount of targeted profit.

Little did the entrepreneurs know that this assumption spell DISASTER rather than SUCCESS. Entrepreneurs need to learn to focus more on the business—the people involved in it and the phases it normally undergoes. Knowledge on these can save small businesses from experiencing entrepreneurial seizure—a stage wherein an entrepreneur goes through feeling of exhilaration, exhaustion, and despair.

Small businesses basically consist of three main characters namely: the technician (the doer and builder), the manager (the planner), and the entrepreneur (the dreamer, visionary). Moreover, small businesses have different life phases. These are: infancy (the technician’s phase); adolescence (getting some help phase); beyond the comfort zone; and, maturity and the entrepreneurial perspective.

The Turn-key Revolution

As implied by the term itself, Turn-key Revolution speaks of the distinct transformations on the way businesses are managed and should be managed. One very prominent example is the introduction of McDonalds the idea of business format franchise to the business world.

The business format franchise has set dramatic turn around on the future of small businesses. Here, the franchisor entitles the franchisee to owning rights to his entire business system. This format is anchored on the belief that the real product of a business is its sales technique rather than what it sells.

The Business Development Process

The business development process is the response to the unending dynamism of the business world. It equips the entrepreneur with the necessary tools to preempt the continuous changes happening around. The process is comprised of three elemental stages: innovation, quantification and orchestration.

The business development program requires the following aspects to be defined:

Your Primary Aim. The owner’s primary aim should center on what he really wishes, needs and wants for his life. Defining this will push the owner to pursue his defined entrepreneurial dreams.

Your Strategic Objectives.

This contains standards that help the owner achieve his goals for his business. This should answer the question: What purpose will this serve my primary aim?

Your Organizational Strategy.

Business owners should learn how to appreciate the value of organizational structures. Some points to consider are organizing around personalities, organizing your company, and position contract.

Your Management Strategy.

As the owner you should recognize the truth that the successful implementation of a management strategy is not dependent on the people who could implement it but on the system instead.

Your People Strategy.

This refers to the approach you take towards your people and their work. To make people appreciate the work they do, you should make them understand the idea behind each of their task assignments.

Your Marketing Strategy.

Here is the stage where all attention suddenly shifts from owner to the customer. You set aside your personal goals first and start focusing on the customer’s needs.

Your Systems Strategy. There are three kinds of systems in a business: the hard systems, the soft systems and the information systems. The hard systems refer to all those in your business that are inanimate and has no life. The soft systems refer to all those that could be living or inanimate. The information systems are everything else in the business that provides you with data relating to how the two earlier systems interact.

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I watched an interesting video on the way new ideas meet resistance and overcome them.  Achieving anything of lasting value means you will go against the grain and think outside the existing patterns.  Your ideas will go through four phases if you persist.  First, they will be ignored – second, they will be laughed at – third, they will be fought – fourth, they will win.  This is why it takes courage and backbone to do anything new.  Here is a video from Linux that explains the process of new ideas. God Bless, Orrin Woodward 

I watched an interesting video on the way new ideas meet resistance and overcome them.  Achieving anything of lasting value means you will go against the grain and think outside the existing patterns.  Your ideas will go through four phases if you persist.  First, they will be ignored – second, they will be laughed at – third, they will be fought – fourth, they will win.  This is why it takes courage and backbone to do anything new.  Here is a video from Linux that explains the process of new ideas. God Bless, Orrin Woodward 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_VFKqw1q2Q&w=425&h=355]

Here are my favorite quotes on overcoming criticism.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt

“When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.” – Anonymous 

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving. – Dale Carnegie

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. – Benjamin Franklin

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. – Abraham Lincoln     

If you have no will to change it, you have no right to criticize it – Anonymous

One mustn’t criticize other people on grounds where he can’t stand perpendicular himself – Mark Twain quotes

Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life. – Joseph Addison    

Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it’s done, they’ve seen it done every day, but they’re unable to do it themselves. – Brendan Francis Behan    

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others. – H. Jackson Brown    

It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic. – Sir Winston Leonard Spenser Churchill    

I criticize by creation – not by finding fault. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her. – David Brinkley

The man who is anybody and who does anything is surely going to be criticized, vilified, and misunderstood. This is part of the penalty for greatness, and every man understands, too, that it is no proof of greatness. – Elbert Hubbard

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. – Elbert Hubbard

Criticism is prejudice made plausible. H. L. Mencken

We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves. – Henri Frederic Amiel

You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one. – John Wooden

Here are my favorite quotes on overcoming criticism.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. – Theodore Roosevelt

“When we judge or criticize another person, it says nothing about that person; it merely says something about our own need to be critical.” – Anonymous 

Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving. – Dale Carnegie

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. – Benjamin Franklin

He has a right to criticize, who has a heart to help. – Abraham Lincoln     

If you have no will to change it, you have no right to criticize it – Anonymous

One mustn’t criticize other people on grounds where he can’t stand perpendicular himself – Mark Twain quotes

Ridicule is generally made use of to laugh men out of virtue and good sense, by attacking everything praiseworthy in human life. – Joseph Addison    

Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how it’s done, they’ve seen it done every day, but they’re unable to do it themselves. – Brendan Francis Behan    

Let the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others. – H. Jackson Brown    

It is better to be making the news than taking it; to be an actor rather than a critic. – Sir Winston Leonard Spenser Churchill    

I criticize by creation – not by finding fault. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him or her. – David Brinkley

The man who is anybody and who does anything is surely going to be criticized, vilified, and misunderstood. This is part of the penalty for greatness, and every man understands, too, that it is no proof of greatness. – Elbert Hubbard

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, be nothing. – Elbert Hubbard

Criticism is prejudice made plausible. H. L. Mencken

We are never more discontented with others than when we are discontented with ourselves. – Henri Frederic Amiel

You can’t let praise or criticism get to you. It’s a weakness to get caught up in either one. – John Wooden

Read an informational article on envy from Ayn Rand.  Ayn Rand was a gifted economist/philosopher who wrote several best selling books.  She has hit the nail on the head for managers who desire the attributes, respect or possessions of leaders—without the hunger to develop the corresponding skills necessary to lead.  Envy is like taking poison and expecting someone else to die.  Envy kills the host organism and ruins their ability to think, lead and function properly.  I have attached Ayn Rand’s original article and placed my thoughts on leaders vs. envious managers after each paragraph.  If you plan on excelling in leadership—plan on dealing with envy.   You can either learn from leaders or envy leaders.  The choice is yours.  Have you dealt with envy on your leadership journey?  Keep growing as a leader and on your way to the top, you will. God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Superficially, the motive of those who hate the good is taken to be envy.  A dictionary definition of envy is: “1. a sense of discontent or jealousy with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc.  2. desire for an advantaged position possessed by another.” (The Random House Dictionary, 1968.)  The same dictionary adds the following elucidation:  “To envy is to feel resentful because someone else possesses or has achieved what one wishes oneself to possess or to have achieved.”

A leader is someone who has a following.  The hungry student desires to learn from the leader to develop their own following.  This is natural and why mentor-mentee relationships are so important.  If someone desired to have a following, but was not willing to develop into a leader—they have a major problem.  Groups will only willingly follow leaders—not managers.  If the manager desires the following of a leader, but the group follows the leader—the envious person will attack the leader (object of envy) through slander, libel, legal system, etc.  The envious manager would attack the leader and attempt to bribe, cajole, threaten and intimidate the followers to convince them to stop following the object of their envy and to start following them instead.

This covers a great many emotional responses, which come from different motives.  In a certain sense, the second definition is the opposite of the first, and the more innocent of the two.   For example, if a poor man experiences a moment’s envy of another man’s wealth, the feeling may mean nothing more than a momentary concretization of his desire for wealth; the feeling is not directed against that particular rich person and is concerned with the wealth, not the person.  The feeling, in effect, may amount to: “I wish I had an income or a house, or a car, or an overcoat) like his.”  The result of this feeling may be an added incentive for the man to improve his financial condition.

If a manager desired to be the leader of a group of people—they may experience a twinge of envy against the real leader.  This desire is natural and if used to seek counsel from the object of envy—they would learn to lead and perhaps develop their own following.   Recognizing the vast gap between the leader’s influence and the manager’s influence is called confronting reality.  All the manager would have to do is ask the leader how they developed their influence.   Successful leaders are always willing to help managers develop into influential leaders because they do not envy others success.

The feeling is less innocent, if it amounts to: “I want this man’s car (or overcoat, or diamond shirt studs, or industrial establishment).” The result is a criminal.

This is where envy can eat at the manager doing the envying and destroy their ability to influence.  The manager no longer desires to develop the skills necessary to lead their own group of people—instead, the manager’s envy drives him to take the followers from the leader against their will.  People will not willingly follow the manager which creates an environment of threats and intimidation to force people to do the envious manager’s will.  The result is criminal as Ayn Rand states. 

But these are still human beings, in various stages of immorality, compared to the inhuman object whose feeling is: “I hate this man because he is wealthy and I am not.”

The manager states, “I hate this leader because he has influence and I do not.”

Envy is part of this creature’s feeling, but only the superficial, semi-respectable part; it is the tip of an iceberg showing nothing worse than ice, but with the submerged part consisting of a compost of rotting living matter.  The envy, in this case, is semi-respectable because it seems to imply a desire for material possessions, which is a human being’s desire. But, deep down, the creature has no such desire: it does not want to be rich, it wants the human being to be poor.

When the manager is consumed with envy—they no longer desire to develop influence.  Their only desire is to destroy the influence of the leader they envy.  The followers see the manager for what he is: a small person that is not capable or willing to learn leadership.

This is particularly clear in the much more virulent cases of hatred, masked as envy, for those who possess personal values or virtues: hatred of a man (or a woman) because he (or she) is beautiful or intelligent or successful or honest or happy.  In these cases, the creature has no desire and makes no effort to improve its appearance, to develop or to use its intelligence, to struggle for success, to practice honesty, to be happy (nothing can make it happy).  It knows that the disfigurement or the mental collapse or the failure or the immorality or the misery of its victim would not endow it with his or her value. It does not desire the value: it desires the value’s destruction.

The managers continued envy eventually develops into hatred of the leader’s character and virtues.  The manager drops all pretence of attempting to help the followers.  The manager only seeks to destroy as many people following the leader as possible.  The manager realizes the leader’s followers will never be his followers, but this is no longer the goal.  The goal is not to maintain the value of the community: the goal is only to destroy the value of the community. 

“They do not want to own your fortune, they want you to lose it; they do not want to succeed, they want you to fail; they do not want to live, they want you to die; they desire nothing, they hate existence …”(Atlas Shrugged. – Ayn Rand)

The manager does not want to own your community of people, they want the leader to lose it; they do not want to succeed as a leader, they want you to fail as a leader; they do not want to survive, they want you to die; they desire no leadership, they hate leadership.  

What do you do when a manager envies your leadership and influence?  I believe you must answer personal attacks with a restorer’s heart.  The envious manager seeks to destroy, but the principle centered leader seeks to restore.  As a leader, you are responsible to follow God’s law—let Him be responsible for the consequences of your obedience.

Here is another super video on the benefit of failures for future successes.  I believe every great achiever had to go through a significant failure to learn from.  Failure forces you to confront the brutal reality and make the necessary changes to win.  Failure is not final, but only a stepping stone to further success.  Don’t be afraid of failure – be afraid of playing it safe.  People who play it safe in life still end up dying, but they never end up living.  How about you?  Are you busy living (and failing) or are you are busy dying (and playing it safe)?  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

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